Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup

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A comforting, hearty, fall soup.

  • 8

Ingredients

  • 10 cups broth (I use low sodium - by the way, how big is your crock pot?)
  • a bag of frozen chicken breasts(large bag - approx 8-9 breasts / 3lb?)
  • a bunch of scallions
  • olive oil
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 1/2 can light coconut milk *
  • 1 tbs garam masala ** (mine was old)
  • 1 tsp red madras curry
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 cups red lentils (added in last - cooked for about 2-3 hours, tasting for doneness)
  • salt (I added 1 tsp - I'm very sensitive to salt. I'd suggest 3 tsp for normal people)
  • * The coconut milk was great. If I were to remake, I'd add the whole can.
  • ** My garam masala was quite old. But even if it were fresh I would still try the entire tablespoon. I bet it would be awesome. But if you are wary of that, you could go with 1.5 teaspoons.

Preparation

Step 1

Put the crock pot on high and add the broth, the coconut milk, the cut up butternut squash, and the spices.

Cut up the chicken in to small pieces or slices. Sautee them and them in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and add them into the crock pot.

Back in the sautee pan, turn the flame on medium-high, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, heat it up, and add the sliced onions. Sautee them till golden brown and then add them to the crock pot. Leave the crock pot on high for 1/2 hour to an hour. Then turn it to low for a good long time. Geeze, this is where I had it on low for about 6-8 hours and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The lentils don't need as long to cook. Red lentils will take between 1-2 hours to soften on low.

Then you have a delicious, hearty, comforting fall soup. If you put it in the fridge, you'll probably need to add more broth, it gets very thick overnight, and the crock pot can only hold so much liquid.